Showroom My somewhat affordable Virtual Reality 2DOF SCN5 Racing Rig

Hey everybody, I've been meaning to post my project here for a while, but I've been so caught up with my last few months as a senior in high school, that I've been unable to spend too much time on the Xsim forums. Last year, around September, I began planning my Science Fair project, which consisted of trying to prove that Virtual Reality could indeed train the mind and body. Since I've always been into sim-racing, I set out to build the ultimate Virtual Reality motion racing rig.

Around October of 2013, I received my Oculus Rift development kit. The first time I put the Rift on and experienced Titans of Space, my views on what I wanted to do with my life were obvious. Because of this, I began work on my project immediately. I stumbled upon x-sim.de and xsimulator.net which were amazing forums in helping me figure out how I wanted to build my motion seat.

I ended up building my rig out of 2x2 plywood, two 100mm SCN5 actuators, some SimXperience actuator mounts, a Fanatec GT2 steering wheel, CSR Elite Pedals, and a CSR Elite shifter. After I had built my rig, I started searching for racing sims I could use that I could use with the Oculus Rift and my motion rig, and be extremely immersive. After countless game testing, I came across Assetto Corsa. It supports the rift, has amazing physics, and the immersive visuals that are needed to allow one to feel like their actually seated in a car.

To cut to the chase, I came in first place in the Computer Science category at my High School science fair which allowed me to carry on to the next level of Science Fair, regionals. Two months later, I competed in LRSEF (Louisville Regional Science and Engineering Fair). The fair took place Louisville, Kentucky which is where I was born and raised. At LRSEF, I placed 1st in the Computer Sciences category and placed 3rd overall out of the entire fair. Because I placed overall at regional, I was then given the opportunity to go to International Science Fair. International Science Fair is hosted by Intel every year and in a different location. This year, it's being held in Los Angeles, California, in the middle of May. Needless to say, I am beyond excited, and I can't wait to spread the word about Virtual Reality and the sim-racing community!

I have attached my science fair research paper in a PDF format to this post, which contains my research, my step-by-step procedure, and my data results. Here's a picture of the rig and a link to my YouTube channel below just so you guys can get a good idea of what it looks like. I've updated my gaming rig since this picture.

My specs are:
Bitfenix Prodigy
Gigabyte GA-H77N-WIFI
Intel i5 3570K
Xigmatek Dark Knight II
G.Skill 8Gb 1600Mhz
OCZ 750w Modular Power Supply
XFX Radeon R9 290

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCL21alnuIKrQ1D2jN32Aig

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Nice, cannot wait for my Rift to turn up in Jul/Aug. Do you have any issues with head tracking due to the chair movement?

nice setup, but as for affordability, compared to what?

Re affordability - I remember when I first started investigating building a sim the SCN5 systems always seemed to come up top on the search engines. Unfortunately I don't think it is that well known that you can put a motion sim together with DC motors at a fraction of the price of using a SCN5 or other actuators/motors.

Re Affordability SeatTime/ it isn,t well known because it insnt industrial quality .Compere life time and look at the costs.

I've been in the electrical/electronics game for over 30 years and have built many systems for Defence. I see no lack of quality in a DC motor setup. The SCN5 systems from SimXperience are certainly more plug and play if you want to pay for that, but if you are are a bit more hands on the JLK/DC motors setup are almost bullet proof/fast and at a fraction of the cost of a SCN5 (I have 4 motors in my sim for under the price of one SCN5). Speed, my DC motors are currently pushing my seatmover at 414mm Sec! Don't forget SimExperience advise that the SCN5s will fail if you don't set them up as specified. I did some stupid things when initially setting up my sim and the JLK/DC motors just laughed. Life time costs? With hall effect pots and second hand car parts which are over engineered for my sim I have not seen any failures and don't expect any for quite some time (apart for the usual wear and tear applicable for any motion sim).

SCNs are good for "almost" plug and play yes, but you do have to keep within specifications on setup. Although , I have seen a few SCN placed elsewhere and still worked.
Industrial quality is what we would all like, but a lot of people here have turned out marvelous machines with low quality and low cost hand tools.
Sure a CNC , lathe , drop saw , proper tool shed , etc. would be handy, but most of us (me included) cannot really afford that or have access to such tools. So we build with what we have, be it through trial and error and practice.
I have read his document and apart from a few "holes" in the info, its about right about driver training on a motion sim, but it is only practice. Others can advise I am sure better than me.
I havent tested anyone on my sims over the time I have built them. The only observations I have seen , are that people whom have gone from static to motion, their lap times got better and they started to win races in game thanks to motion.
My now 10 year old son has played on just about all my units, and the other day , he hopped onto a dogem car at a fun park. Guess who was the best driver to cope with all the hits and motion......
DC motors and JRKS have proven themselves to be fast and reliable. And they truly do rival SCN products. They are stronger, faster , quieter and cheaper. But yes they do need a bit more setting up.
@adgun , I do not under stand what you mean about lifetime and costs. If you mean wear and tear, SCN tend to fail sooner than DC motors.
Again, nothing wrong with SCN products, they look great and perform well. There are cheaper solutions, thats all.

@NCMcClure , Nice setup, great job.

I notice in the video you sim appears to tilt right when you turn right and tilt left when you turn left?

Maybe this is how you prefer it which is fine... however if you aren't aware the "standard" approach is for the sim to tilt opposite to the direction of turn - ie: tilt left when turning right, and tilt right when turning left. This is to "trick the mind" into thinking the G-Forces acting on the body are pulling you out of the turn.

Give it a go if you haven't already.

I gives a quick read to your paper... Nice ... I never thought that hard beating could really be altered just by the use of the sim... Nice. And. Thanks for share

Fer

Enviado desde mi TBT-101 mediante Tapatalk

@BSFT:I have nothing agaist dc motors,but a brushed motor got a limitid life time because there brushes.Correctly used a scn5 will last a fuw times longer,because it,s brushles

SCN have stepper motors in them and have no brushes whatsoever, so thats a wrong comparison.
Just for the record, DC motors can last a long time with brushes in them, why is it that a wiper on a 40 year old car still works? That would have had plenty of use in its life.
Show me a SCN that has done 4 hours use a day for 4 years under hard thrashing, not gentle motion. They break internal parts before motors.
Of course they are not going to wear out brushes, they dont have any!
Brushed motors are fine, dont pick on them unless you have used them.

i am not picking on dc motors or so on.
I am only saying that a scn5 are build for a longer life time.than pmdc can make because they are brushles nothing more!

I too was planning a scn5 build several years ago. Then I read some having problems with ilk, and some breaking pins. Really turned me off and I shelved the project. I couldnt stand the thought of a mistake costing me $500.

Anyways I am glad I held off for a while and decided on motors and jrk's.